Bob,

This information that has been given is a good way
to rid yourself of snails if you feel it is
necessary and have aquaculture facility and your
ponds that shorelines that extend 2 meters into
the pond from the edge. What happens is that this
is where the majority of the snails hang out in
this 2 meter area along the shore and the fish do
not reside in this area. Because the fish do not
reside in this area the use of copper sulfate is
usually no problem, because otherwise the copper
sulfate is very toxic to fish.

If you noticed the formula has a additional amount
of citric acid to the copper sulfate. The reason
that technique works is because this area of
shoreline has very little water movement and where
it is spread it tends to stay in that area and
sink to the mud. The citric acid actually raises
the acidity of the area it has been added to and
because the shore line is not being flushed by
water movement. Since most home ponds have water
movement this would not be good for home pond use.
In addition, the acidity also helps the copper ion
to be absorbed into the soil making it hard to be
reabsorbed in to the water.

So in conclusion, this is a good procedure if your
pond has a 2 meter band of soil along the
shoreline and no water movement.

Also, some thing that this abstract doesn't
mention is the trematodes (a huge group of
parasites) it is talking about are digenetic
trematodes, which are parasitic worms, for the
most part and have nothing to do with flukes.
Areas of concern are commercial bass production,
Catfish productions and Salmon facilities here in
the U.S. Wild populations in South Texas,
Florida, Mississippi and Georgia have been found
to have this parasite, but the bird that is
primarily involved in the spread of this parasite
is the Cormorant in the wild and in commercial
facilities. So, if you have Cormorants bothering
your ponds, you may have this parasite.

Other than that snails are really not a problem
and you can reduce this population and keep it in
check as I have previously suggested.

HTH

Tom L.L.
wrote in message
...
copper sulfate or coppersafe overnight 12 hours
at 2X concentration should do it.


http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carb
aryl-dicrotophos/copper-su
lfate-ext.html

http://www.nps.ars.usda.gov/publications/publicati
ons.htm?SEQ_NO_115=116205
of course dont use copper sulfate in a "swath"
in your tank, but here is
the idea.
" Technical Abstract: Aquatic snails transfer
trematodes from birds to
fish and by reducing the number of snails the
potential for diseases caused
by the trematodes is lessened. This article
discusses a shoreline pond
treatment designed to kill aquatic snails that
occur in the waters at the
pond edges while not harming fish in the pond.
Two treatments at three
different rates were tested for efficacy against
the rams horn snail. The
best treatment appears to be a copper sulfate
solution applied in a 6-foot
swath in the waters along the shoreline of a
pond. Ten pounds of copper
sulfate in solution were put out over 250 feet
of shoreline. Survival of
snails in the treatment was 0% while in the
controls 69% of the snails
survived. The treatment appears very promising."
Ingrid


"Robert Burns" wrote:

Thanks,
So how's copper sulfate work as a dip? I'm
going ot re-pot and divide
plants this weekend. If I dip each plant
before it goes back into the pond
will I get 'em? I'm putting the fish in a
separate tank for a week or so
while I scrub out the pond. It's getting a bit
larger too. I'll check the
hardness. What concentration should I use as a
dip if it will work.